Oval silver plaque with raised relief design of a standing child holding a staff in one hand and cluster of grapes in the other; the figure is an allegorical representation of a gemstone based on descriptive passages from "Naturalis historia," written by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder in the first century C.E. The stylized, symbolic imagery reflects not only Cooper's literary interests but also his desire to explore "the inner properties in the things-the ideas under-lying them."

Oval silver plaque with raised relief design of a standing child holding a staff in one hand and cluster of grapes in the other; the figure is an allegorical representation of a gemstone based on descriptive passages from "Naturalis historia," written by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder in the first century C.E. The stylized, symbolic imagery reflects not only Cooper's literary interests but also his desire to explore "the inner properties in the things-the ideas under-lying them."